Transcription

va Telegram. P. From - Tiie Secretary to the Government of India in the Foreign and Political Department,Delhi, To - - His Britannic Majesty’s Consul General and Agent of the Government of India in Khorasan,Meshed. No* 231-S. Dated the 27th February 1920. Please refer to the passage in Malleson’s telegram to Chief of the General Staff M.D.08255, dated February 20th..about Wagner’s black box. Following telegram dated 14th of February received from Secretary of State. Begin s:- German (? papers) at Herat. Reference my telegram of August 12th, 1918. Authentic information has been received by War Office to effect that Wagner may try to return to s Herat under the disguise of a member of mission to prisoned of war in Turkestan, in order to recover Niedermeyer’s papers which, it is said, include mission diary, records of the utmost military, political and scientific importance as well as geological photographs. German Government has not apparently sanctioned project officially. Could Consul-General, Meshed, not make further attempt to secure papers or at least make sure that they are destroyed.JlndS^ Do you think that with Mallesons help you can get hold of the box without suspicion or resentment of Afghans being aroused ? Obviously it would be better to get hold of papers rather than merely to have them destroyed.

About this item

Content

The volume contains correspondence regarding the movements and activities of the Central Powers in Persia [Iran] and Afghanistan between December 1916 and May 1920. The correspondence is particularly concerned with German agents captured in Persia and imprisoned in India, and with the retrieval of German papers left behind in Herat, Afghanistan.

The volume includes extracts from the diary of Walter Griesinger detailing the German mission to Afghanistan led by Oskar von Niedermayer in 1914-16. The primary correspondents are: Government of the German Empire; War Office; Directorate of Military Intelligence; British Consulate General, Meshed; Government of India.

The volume contains three items in German: a list of German military personnel active in Persia in February 1916 written by the German Military Attache, Tehran (ff 55-56); and two letters from the German Government relating to Niedermayer’s mission (ff 107 and 123-124).

The volume includes a divider which gives the subject number, the year the subject file was opened, the subject heading, and a list of correspondence references by year. This is placed at the back of the correspondence.

Extent and format

1 volume (188 folios)

Arrangement

The papers are arranged in approximate chronological order from the rear to the front of the volume.

The subject 3443 (German War/Persia) consists of six volumes, IOR/L/PS/10/472-477. The volumes are divided into six parts, with each part comprising one volume.

Physical characteristics

Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the first folio with 1 and terminates at the last folio with 192; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the
recto
The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. side of each folio. A previous foliation sequence, which is also circled, has been superseded and therefore crossed out.The foliation sequence does not include the front and back covers, nor does it include the leading and ending flyleaves.